By Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.

(Continued)

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Perpetrators of Physical Child Abuse

The National Foundation for Abused and Neglected Children indicates that parents who abuse their children share some common characteristics.  On their Web site, they list the following:

• They seem to be isolated from the community and have no close friends.
• When asked about a child's injury, they offer conflicting reasons or no explanation at all.
• They seem unwilling or unable to provide for a child's basic needs.
• They expect too much of their children.
• They don't supervise or discipline their children in ways that teach them to correct their behavior.

The U. S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect also issued a generic profile (guardedly, given the lack of formal studies), indicating that parental abusers are mostly like to be in their mid-twenties, without a high school diploma, depressed, living in poverty, and having difficulty coping with stress.  They've often experienced abuse themselves, and in a recent study on the brain, it was suggested that as abused children, their serotonin levels diminished, which became an influential factor in their adult depression and aggression. 

While mothers are most often involved in deaths of children resulting from neglect (sometimes intentional), fathers are most often at fault in deaths that result from physical violence.  This percentage is smaller, but the injuries are much more shocking.  So let's look at some of the possible causes.

Sometimes a significant stress, such as divorce, moving, a change in the household, or sudden unemployment can trigger uncharacteristic aggression against children, because they're the easiest target against which to express physiological disturbances from disappointment, fear, and anger.  In addition, some parents lack knowledge about developmental processes, so their erroneous expectations can create a form of stress that triggers maltreatment.

A child who makes unexpected demands with loud crying, waking up more often than anticipated, and being generally difficult may provoke a parent to act out suddenly, with violence.  Such incidences are generally followed by horror and remorse, and quick action to ensure that the child is all right.  However, a child who may have been unwanted may cause feelings of resentment.  Much of the household stress will be blamed on the child, deservedly or not.

However, parents with substance abuse problems (particularly substances that decrease inhibitions and fuel aggression) may act out against a child while under the influence, smacking, pushing or hitting in a way they would never do in a normal state.  No statistics are available on this, as it's difficult to know when parents have thus indulged, especially with illegal substances.

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By Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.

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